Hi everyone,
My new book, Free Speech Generation: The Civil Libertarians Who Saved the First Amendment and Transformed America, comes out January 19, and it’s now available for preorder!
To celebrate, we’re giving away a free, limited-edition T-shirt to everyone in the United States who preorders a copy.
The shirt features an iconic photo from the 1964 Berkeley Free Speech Movement, showing students carrying a banner reading “free speech” through Sather Gate. On the back is FIRE’s logo and our unofficial motto: “If it’s protected, we’ll defend it.”
Free Speech Generation tells the story of the civil libertarians who fought to make good on the First Amendment’s promise, transforming it into the powerful protection for free expression we know today. It’s a history of the people and battles that helped shape our understanding of free speech, and I’m excited to finally share it with you.
Here’s how to get your shirt:
Preorder the book in any format (audiobook preorders to come!).
Visit fire.org/FreeSpeechGeneration and fill out the short form with your proof of purchase.
Preorders are a huge part of a book’s success, so if you’ve been thinking about picking up a copy, I’d really appreciate your preorder. Plus, royalties from the book go directly to FIRE, so you’ll be supporting free speech in more ways than one.
The offer runs through January 19, and shirts will ship by early February.
Thanks for your support!
Nico Perrino
P.S. If you already preordered a book — thank you! You still qualify for the free shirt. Just fill out the form with your proof of purchase.
Book cover photo credit: Used with permission of The Oakland Tribune 2026. All rights reserved.
Shirt photo credit: March from Sproul Plaza to Regent's meeting in University Hall on Oxford St., Steven Marcus Free Speech Movement Photographs, circa 1964, BANC PIC 2000.002--NEG Strip 44:33 © The Regents of the University of California, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. https://digicoll.lib.berkeley.edu/record/54188
Pre-ordered from Amazon and put in my request for the T-shirt yesterday! ⚖️